up next on a second look, celebrating the life of dr. martin luther king and remembering the dark days of

1968 when americans saw not one but two great hopes for the nation assassinated. also a white man raised in the segregated south with a lifetime dedicated to racial equality. one small act of defiance led to one great movement for dignity. how the nation remembered rosa parks as she was laid to rest. plus a look at great speeches that made an impact on history. tomorrow is the day we celebrate the life of martin luther king jr. an event that shook the nation to its foundation and brought civil rights to the forefront of that year's presidential campaign. a gunman would assassinate reverent king then two months later, robert f. kennedy was shot and killed on the night he won the california primary. george watson brought us this report back in 1988. 20 years after the king assassination.

>> like anybody i would like to live a long life, longevity has its place. but i'm not concerned about that now. i just want to do god's will. and he's allowed me to go up to the mountain, and i've looked over and i've seen the promise land. i mean i'll get there with you. but i want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the promise land. >> reporter: the preacher became the prophet. while standing in tennessee, martin luther king's words rang horribly true. a single gunshot would kill the leader. the shot came from over there.

fired from a tiny room it tore into the body of the entire country. rioting broke out. blacks bellowed out theirager in a fire storm of anger and frustration. all this triggered by the murder of a man who preached that freedom would come through nonviolence. king brought nobility and hope to his cause. he meant so much. >> martin luther king dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. he died in the cause of that effort. in this difficult day, in this difficult time for the united states, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are. >> was america destined to gun down it's brightest stars?

it seemed so the night of california's 1968 presidential primary election. robert kennedy had just won with 46% of the vote. he would thank his supporters for the victory that seemed almost certain to take him to the presidency. leaving the podium, on his way to meet with reporters, he took a shortcut through the kitchen. then america's hope already so badly battered by the murder of martin luther king was dashed into darkness by the bullet of one small man. >> oh my god. senator kennedy has been shot. >> jesus why. >> shoot it, shoot it. >> my brother need not be idolized or in large in death beyond what he was in life, to

be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it. saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us, and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. as he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him, some men see things as they are and say why. i dream things that never were and say why not. >> in 1967 two weeks after a violent uprising in the city of detroit, martin luther king jr. came to oakland and talked about the riot that had hit

some of america's inner cities and the conditions that led to them. >> i can't say this is the last, i wish it was the last. but i am not able to predict what will happen. i can only say that there is a great deal of frustration and bitterness and dispair in the negro community and often this leads to actions that is suicidal. people often say unconsciously i would rather be dead than ignored and we see many of these suicidal tendencies in riots and all that can be done is for our nation to move on aggressively to get rid of the intolerable conditions. we have to condemn riots but as we condemn them we must be just at forthright many condemning the conditions that bring them into being and condemning the congress of our nation which can spend $80 million a day to

fight a war which i consider an unjust one in vietnam and yet cannot even or refuses to pass a $44 million bill to get rid of rats and the ghettos of our nation. i think the culprit must be pointed out and the culprit in this situation is not merely the one with the molotov cocktail but the culprit is a congress, is a vacillation and unbivolance of america. after the death of martin luther king jr., riots broke out in many cities. okay -- oakland was not one of them but two days after -- >> reporter: the day after the

assassination thousands of mourners mourners marched to city hall. the march was peaceful but the peace would come to an end. >> as we were transporting these weapons, the police stopped us. and all hell broke lose. i ended up going into one house, little bobby and cleburn went into another house. when it was all over a 90 minute gun battle little bobby hunton was shot that night and killed. >> reporter: police called it self-defense. the panthers noting that hunton was shot five times called it murder. hunton's funeral was packed with 1,500 mourners, even drawing some of hollywood. after hunton's funeral, marlon brando expressed the need for

whites to become part of the struggle. >> we have a long way to go and a lot to learn. i haven't been in your place. i haven't suffered the way you've suffered. i am just beginning to learn the nature of that experience. >> the black panther party continued for several years but by the mid-1970s began to disintegrate. >> the black panthers had its day in history and hopefully the youth will take a lesson and take a page from our history. and move forward to carry on where we left off. >> i don't think they accomplished a darn thing. i think they hurt oakland more than anything else. >> reporter: he says he often speaks to past panthers. >> we talk very enthusiastically. in a very romantic way about the 60s, the panthers. >> still to come on a second

look, morris dees has devoted his life to peace. >> and why rosa parks has become known as the mother of rights.

one of the great champions of civil rights over the years may be a surprise to some people. he's actually a white man who was raised in the segregated south. betty anne bruno talked to dees back in 1991. >> reporter: born and raised in the deep south. morris dees grew up in alabama.

his uncles were bible carrying ku klux klan members. >> i try not to follow classes. i really believe in fairness and justice. >> reporter: last fall dees won a verdict against a klan member for the killing of an ethiopian man. that case and others where are portrayed in a tv movie called "line of fire." these things have placed dees on a hit list. >> a young member of its organization mark sums is getting a prison sentence down in fall brook for a plan that would involve causing physical

harm and the fbi caught him. he was convicted. it was fbi who helped find the people who burned and kill the residents. i think it's -- i'm blessed to know that they are out there doing it. >> reporter: here in the bay area there has been a rash of incidents. dees says the neo natzis and skin heads are growing in the bayarea. >> along comes a mexican saying, their problems are not their problems. you have to stop them. you have to hurt them. you have to keep them down to keep you up. nobody ever got up by climbing across the back of anybody elses and stayed up very long.

>> reporter: but there's a more incidiary racism. >> it just enflames them that the leaders of our country are not standing up for equality of all our country. >> reporter: dees says he's serious about that phrase of all americans. >> in 1941, a school board fired black school teachers in a discriminatory manner. the chairman of the board of education said you were right. we were doing nothing more than these whites than the whites did to us when they had power. we remember rosa parks and her small act that became an enormous symbol in her fight during civil rights.

if dr. martin luther king jr. was the father of civil rights, rosa parks is considered its mother. she clarified for the nation the symbol of equality in one simple act. when parks died in 2005 bob mackenzie had this look back at her life. >> reporter: a tiny whisp of a woman but with backbone that would not quit. even as a frail old lady, she still had the presence of a woman who turned an incident into a historic moment. 10 years ago rosa parks came to the bay area to speak at san francisco state. she talked with ktvu's rob roth about that day now 50 years ago when she got on a bus in montgomery alabama after a hard

day's work as a seamstress. she and three other black people sat down in the middle of bus where blacks could sit, but would have to leave if a white person wanted the seat. >> it had always bothered me and i think others too. but since they considered it the law it was not very easy to defie their rules. >> reporter: a few stops later a white man got on and could not find a seat. >> he wanted to know if i was going to stand up i told him i was not. he said if you don't stand up i'll have your arrested and i said he could do that. >> reporter: rosa parks was arrested, fingerprinted and fined. a reverend named martin luther king brought a lawsuit against

the bus company. the u.s. supreme court declared montgomery segregation laws unconstitutional. in recent years the civil rights movement she had inspired brought her out for speeches and celebrations. she worked with the nnacp, started an organizations to provide opportunities for young people. but about her part of it in it all she was always modest. >> are you proud of what you've done? >> well, if not i would take so much pride in myself but what i was happy about was the fact that the people in montgomery stayed off the buses in large numbers and opposed of course that made it a protest and this protest could put the bus company out of business for a while. >> a week later, rosa parks funeral was held in detroit. the city where she had lived in

the later years of her life. and here's bob mackenzie's report from that day. november2, 2005. >> reporter: a whitehurst bore rosa park's body slowly through the streets of detroit to greater grace temple where she was carried with great care to the front of this vast church. the list of guests included power players from government as well adds civil rights celebrities and thousands of humbler folk who wanted to honor the woman who igniteed the civil rights movement 60 years ago. the marathon service lasted most of the day and featured dozens of speakers. >> two of my friends and i who strongly approved of what she had done decided we didn't have to sit in the front anymore. it was just a tiny gesture by

three ordinary kids, but that tiny gesture was repeated over and over again millions and millions of times in the hearts and minds of children, their parents, their grandparents, their great grandparents proving that she did help to set us all free. >> it's a given that i would not be here today were it not for this small woman who lies before us. many of the people on this stage would not enjoy the accolades they enjoy had it not been for the sacrifices of this woman. >> to the parks and the mcalley family, ♪ we want to thank you

♪ thank you for her quiet, her quiet strength and determination ♪ oh yeah , we want to thank you ♪ for her waiverring strength and courage ♪ >> do you realize that dr. king and them formed a boycott after rosa parks where people stayed off the bus for a year. with the rallies every night and they never had e-mail, never had a cell phone, never could go online. we've got so much more that they gave us and we're doing so much less with it. >> reporter: after such a storm of words, a long rest for a

woman who said little and accomplished so much. when we come back on a second look on the eve of inauguration day, memorable presidential speeches from years past.

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tomorrow is not only martin luther king day across the country it's also inauguration day for the first black president in the history of the united states. over the years some of the most memorable lines presidents have delivered have come in their inauguration speeches. in 2005 ktvu's craig heaps brought us a look at a few of them. >> and so my fellow americans ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. >> reporter: it is per happen it is most memorable 17 words to come from an inauguration speech in a generation. certainly in the years after john f. kennedy layed down that challenge no president has

delivered a more lasting inaugural phrase. >> the energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. >> reporter: since george washington made the firsthand written inaugural address, it has been what newly elected or reelected presidents aspire to but few achieve. a spark that lights a fire in the minds of americans. those who stand the test of time have often come in times of great national crisis. when franklin roosevelt first took office in 1932, the nation had just begun the great depression. and roosevelt sought to reassure the psyche of a

nation. >> let me affirm the belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. nameless, unreasonable, unjustified terror which paralyzing needed effort to convert retreat into advance. this nation is asking for action and action now. >> reporter: for abraham lincoln the moment came at the end of his second inaugural address, an appeal to heal the nation split by four years of civil war. >> with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right god gives us to see the light let us strive to finish the world we're in. to bind up the nation's wound. to care for him who may have born the battle and for the widow and his orphan. among oursve